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Old 07-30-2008, 07:00 PM   #1 (permalink)
Bearleener
Efficiency freak
 
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Berlin, Germany
Posts: 58

Frugolf - '96 VW Golf wagon
90 day: 40.36 mpg (US)
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Hypermiling in Europe

Just wanted to give you a perspective on what it's like to hypermile here in Germany.

First of all, gas costs 1.48 EUR/L, that's about $8.80/gal (thanks to high tax rates and the weak Dollar; oddly, diesel is slightly cheaper than gasoline). All the more surprising that relatively few people are hypermiling here, and I haven't found any decent German sites similar to Ecomodder. There is one site where you can compare your fuel economy to others driving the same car, here it is for my car: Übersicht: Volkswagen - Golf
You do occasionally hear someone else turning off their engine at stoplights (and not just the newer cars that do it automatically), and many people do let the car coast down if there's a red light ahead; they teach you these things in driver's ed here. Cars didn't become ScanGauge-compatible here until about 2002, so for me that means I can't wait for MPGuino. The official fuel economy figures are way overly optimistic, based on a very artificial driving cycle with gentle accelerations, unlike the new EPA figures.

In general it's more difficult to hypermile here because the traffic is more dense, frequent intersections, it's often hard to see stoplights from far away, and the stoplight programs sometlimes change frequently depending on the time of day, making it hard to plan ahead. So you often end up having to dump your momentum - ouch. Long cruising stretches like on many American suburban roads are rare.

The speed limit in town is 50 km/h (30 mph) on main roads and 30 km/h (19 mph) on side streets, which means EOC can help a lot. People usually cruise about 10 km/h over the limit. On urban highways it's 80 km/h (50 mph) and in the country there's sometimes no limit.

Ecomods like Basjoos' or even wheel well covers are a problem because the cops are really strict about every modification needing to be officially approved.

The good thing is, there aren't too many tailgaters and I've never gotten honked at. You can tell when a light is stale green because the pedestrian crosswalks will turn red first. And a red light changes to red + amber about 2 seconds before turning green, giving you plenty of time to start up your engine. Very few stop signs, it's usually right-before-left in residential areas. At least in Berlin, traffic jams are rare.

So it's a mixed bag. But at these gas prices it's bound to catch on.

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